Hamid Mowlana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 25, 1937 |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Occupation(s) | Professor Author |
| Employer | American University |
| Known for | International and intercultural communication theories; Islamic community paradigm; Communication as cultural ecology in international relations. |
Hamid Mowlana (Persian: حمید مولانا, Hamid Molana, born in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran) is an Iranian-American author and academic. He is Professor Emeritus of International Relations in the School of International Services at American University in Washington, D.C. He was an advisor to the former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mowlana was born into an educational and scholarly family. His grandfather, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Muhammad Mowlana, was a leading Islamic jurisprudent (faqih) and a community leader. His great uncle, Haji-Mirza Hassan Roshdieh, was a founder of modern educational and teaching methods in Iran. He is a descendant of the Iranian mystic poet, Qasim-i Anvar (1356-1433), and his ancestry dates back to Imam Musa Al-Kazim (745-799) in the early Islamic history.[1]
At the age of twenty-six, after the completion of his Ph.D. degree at Northwestern, he served as editor-in-chief of Kayhan daily in Iran in 1963.[2] However, he resigned that position shortly and returned to the United States in pursuit of an academic life.
Mowlana was Founding Director of the International Communication Program in the School of International Service at American University from 1968 to 2005. He has also served as Visiting Professor or Guest Scholar in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He was instrumental in establishing the first degree program in international and intercultural communication studies.[3] He obtained his B.S. in economics in 1959 and earned his M.S. in journalism in 1960 and his PhD in Communication and Political Science in 1963 from Northwestern University. He served on the faculty of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville from l965 to l968 before moving to American University in Washington, D.C.[4]
In 1963 Mowlana discovered the well preserved and original copy of the first Iranian newspaper called “Kaqaze Akhbar”, published in Tehran in l837, in the files of the British Museum Library in London and came a cross further evidence of the paper's existence in the files of the Royal Asiatic Society, also based in London, and thus changed the beginning of Iranian journalism history to fourteen years earlier - from l851 to 1837.[5]
Between 1950s and 1970s, he has contributed articles on international affairs to a number of American media organizations including The Miami Herald (Knight Newspapers), The Sacramento Bee (McClatchy Newspapers), and has collaborated with ABC, NBC, and CBS on a number of public affairs programs.[6] He has testified before the Congressional committees on international issues.[7]
Mowlana has worked for UNESCO in Paris and is a former president of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).[8] He wrote regularly for Kayhan daily, one of the main leading newspapers in Iran during the 1990s and 2000s. As of 2019 Mowlana's bibliography listed over 1400 printed works (books, book chapters, journal articles, book reviews, and magazine and newspaper articles).[9]
Mowlana has served on the editorial board of a number of scholarly and scientific journals. He was a founding editor of the Journal of International Communication and Journal of Intercultural Communication & Interactions Research. He was also a contributing editor of the Journal of Communication as well as the mass media editor of Intellect of the Society for Advancement of Education. His 1986 book, Global Information and World Communication: New Frontiers in International Communication, was selected as “communication book of the year” by American Professional Librarians.
Mowlana received a number of awards including the University Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Other Professional Contributions in 1993, the International Communication Association's Award for Outstanding Research in 1977,[10] American University's School of International Service Award for Outstanding Contribution to Academic Development in 1980 and 1988 and for Thirty Years of Distinguished Leadership and Scholarship in 1998, and the Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award in 2000.[11] He was also the recipient of the International Studies Association's Distinguished Senior Scholar Award in International Communication at its 43rd Annual Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2002.[12]
Mowlana was honored by the Iranian universities and academies for his life achievements and was designated nationally in Iran as an "Eternal One"—“Chehrehaye Mandegar" in 2003.[13] On the Persian tradition honoring noted scholars he was named as an honorary advisor to the former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mowlana's scholarly works extend over a number of disciplines including political science, economics, sociology, communication and philosophy. He is best known for his “integrated theory of communication and international relations”,[14] his “five dimensional model of human communication”,[15] and his “monistic-emancipatory framework”[16] of socio-economic development. His theoretical works on “communication as cultural ecology”[17] and “Islamic communication ethics”[18] have been widely published.
On August 19, 2008, the Islamic Republic News Agency, reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had appointed Mowlana as his advisor, asking Mowlana to help with the objectives of his government in "providing justice, friendship, serving the society and promotion of public life status."[19]
